Since this is my first wrestling article, I’m @KennyYake and I’ve been a wrestling fan since I could turn the TV channel to 29 myself. Wrestling is that thing nobody ever brings up in conversation, someone just lightly touches on the subject. Well, that one time opens the door and all of a sudden everyone is a fan. Welcome to Kenny’s Wrestling Rants.
Well, we all know with sports tossed in the cooler we have slim pickings on TV. Between the reruns of the greatest baseball games ever and Super Bowls what else is left?
Something has caught my attention lately and it’s pulled at my being enough to write about it. We all know Covid-19 has made wrestling super odd with no fans. The shows are going on though, especially AEW.
WWE Has Been Weird Lately
I love what they’re doing with Drew McIntyre but as a lifelong wrestling fan I hurt for him knowing how much more meaningful that Wrestlemania could’ve been with screaming fans elated he’d beaten Brock Lesnar, while he’s holding that belt up high and letting the validation cheers soak in.
Charlotte going back to NXT is, well…ok. I get there are concerns about Rhea Ripley’s work visa but what about Bianca Belair? Easily over enough to have the Women’s Championship. Instead you just bumped The EST up to RAW to do some odd trio’s feud with Zelina Vega and a toss-together tag team.
AEW Having Talent Ringside is Genius
Which leads me to my point. There’s still banter and interactions for the wrestlers in-ring this way. I’ll use Britt Baker’s match with Hikaru Shida this past Wednesday night as an example. I didn’t realize how much I’ve actually missed fans until that match. The boos when Baker would hit Shida and the mirrored cheers when Shida would smack Baker. I missed that so much and never realized it.
Is there something I’m missing? How is AEW doing this but Vince isn’t? You know how your fan base cheers for faces and heels, putting talent that you’re not using out beside the ring in lieu of eerie empty chair rows to bolster the experience certainly has to yield a more desirable experience and higher ratings. Or is Vince too dedicated to the kayfabe? Not like he has the XFL to worry about now. This was was the first edition of Kenny’s Wrestling Rants and I absolutely thank you for playing along.
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